Anyone who has ever read my blog or listened to my podcast knows that I went through a long phase of legalism during my teen years.

The primary way this legalism played out in my own personal life was in my practice of taking man's teachings regarding what Biblical womanhood was and superimposing them onto the Scriptures.

The result (though I didn't see it at the time) was that I was making the Word of God say something it actually didn't say. I had my own box, my own system, my own viewpoint about what comprised a godly woman's calling, life, and purpose, while the plain teachings of the whole canon of Scripture were largely ignored so that I might hold firm to that self-made box.

I fear that, sadly, my story is nothing out of the ordinary.

In fact, I see this happening quite a lot in Christendom today. We have our churchy stereotypes right and left as to what godly women are like – what precisely they wear, how they look, how they spend their time, and what they do, all the while we are pulling one or two proof texts out here and there in order to "support" said stereotypes.

In an age in which the culture is also vying for our girls' attention with their own faulty stereotypes and images of womanhood, this is exceptionally sad.

We live in an age when so many lies from the media, the culture, the stores at the mall, and the internet are bombarding our girls, giving them dangerous ideas of what they should do and how they should be. Unfortunately, though, rather than being faithful to our job of providing the truth and freedom found in God's Word, oftentimes what is happening is that we are unknowingly showering our girls with even more lies ourselves (just on an opposite side of the spectrum).

This is one of the many reasons why I am so passionate about teaching and writing on topics pertaining to Biblical womanhood, true femininity, motherhood, and a woman's calling. Now more than ever we need to hold fast to the truth found within the 66 books of Scripture. And our daughters do, too. If we are ever going to be successful in our goal of raising godly girls, this is where we have to start. We have to be diligent and faithful students of the Word of God.

Rebekah Hargraves is a wife, mama of two littles, home business owner, podcaster, and blogger residing in TN. Her passion is to bless fellow Christian women through her writings on her website, Hargraves Home and Hearth, which exists to "edify, equip, and encourage women in their journey of Biblical womanhood".